It took all the courage and all the strength Virgil had to mount that dragon again. Once he was in the air again, he was shaking. Every part of his survival instincts were telling him to fly the other way; every part of him just wanted to go back to Roman.

He's counting on you, Luis is counting on you, they're all counting on you, he reminded himself as he shook out his head and looked up at the portal he was approaching. Don't let them down... you've probably done it so much in all these years, but now's your chance to make things right.

The dark prince set his jaw despite looking terrified as he soared closer. He slowly stood up, shaky on his feet as the beast above him laughed again.

"Not a wise idea," it boomed. "You've no idea what powers you're dealing with, young one. You'll never be able to do this."

The three others on the ground could hear his voice even from down below. Virgil was breathing heavily as he fought to stay calm. Roman projected his voice, enhancing it with basic magic. "DON'T LISTEN TO HIM, VIRGIL!" he called up to his dark prince. He saw him look down towards him as he continued. "HE'S SCARED OF YOU! THAT'S WHY HE'S SAYING THIS! YOU CAN DO THIS!"

Virgil smiled just a little bit down at his prince, hand reaching up to grip his necklace. Determination and courage welled up inside him, making his eyebrows furrow together and his jaw set. He turned back to toward the portal, standing confidently on the back of his dragon.

"Alright... you and me..." he muttered, raising his hands.

The dark prince closed his eyes and exhaled, feeling the power flow through him. His hands lit up with the same purple glow it had before. Once again, he felt the intense pressure of the spell he was trying to cast. It made his whole body shake and his face screw up with discomfort, but he kept up his efforts.

"You can't do this," the dragon's voice said, but this time it was only in his head. Virgil's eyes snapped open to look up at the beast as it continued. "I can look into your head. You know it's true. You can't do this, Virgil... just stop trying to fight it."

He shook his head, whimpering as the pressure turned to pain once again. Panting with effort, he kept trying.

"Virgil, just let me help you," the mage said, voice echoing in his mind. "With my return, dark mages who were shadowed and shunned all their life will be able to come into the light! I can teach you everything you've ever wanted to know about your powers. With my guidance, you can be the most powerful mage in the world, second only to me of course. Just let me in, Virgil."

The dark prince winced upon hearing all the conflicting thoughts. The pain got worse and for a brief moment came where he considered it.

"N-No... no," he muttered to himself. "Just breathe... I don't want power. I don't want recognition. I just want to be cared for by the people I care about."

The dragon above him laughed, voice no longer just in his head. It shook his body with the volume. "You're pathetic. Love isn't something that protected our people when they were slaughtered for having a gift seen as a curse," he replied. "It doesn't matter how much you try. You'll never keep me from unleashing my vengeance on this pitiful world."

"I'll never give up," Virgil muttered.

He felt a surge of power with those words, pushing more with his spell. He gasped out at the intense pain, but when he looked up, he could see it was working. The portal was beginning to close.

It's actually working, he thought.

Virgil suddenly yelled out in pain as it got worse and worse. He'd never felt so much pain in his life, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out. It didn't work for long, as the intensity of the pain eventually made him scream in agony. He fell to his knees on the dragon, but kept up the spell.

Come on, come on, just close, he pleaded, feeling as though he was going to explode. He cried out again as he pushed for the portal to seal.

"No! NO!" the mage above him yelled as the portal's edges grew closer and closer to the center. "It's not possible!"

Virgil smiled through the pain. "B-Believe it," he managed, pushing again. The dragon let out a howl of anger and rage as the portal glowed with blinding intensity. He could feel his body giving out and his strength fading. The dark prince couldn't even see anymore, so he closed his eyes and released a breath, focusing all the last of his energy on closing the portal.

There was a bright flash. That's all Roman could see from below. There was a bright flash and deafening crack, followed by silence. The prince, having covered his eyes, removed his arm to see the clouds disappearing. A relieved smile crossed his face along with a laugh.

"He did it! He did it!" he cheered, smiling at Luis and Thorn.

They smiled back, getting to their feet. Luis hugged the princess tightly, sighing in relief. Roman quickly joined their embrace, the three of them cheering as they hugged. After a moment, the younger prince spoke up.

"So, where is he?" he asked with an eager smile.

"He probably flew down to the clearing under the portal afterwards. Let's go!" Roman exclaimed, running in that direction with a wide smile on his face. "Virgil!"

He broke the tree line, calling for his dark prince happily as he entered the clearing. "Virgil? You did it! You closed the portal and canceled the spell!" he said happily, looking around in confusion. Luis and Thorn had arrived to the clearing as well, finding the prince still looking for him. They joined in, searching the clearing.

The younger prince's eyes widened as he looked at his feet, gut dropping in horror. He crouched down, voice shaking as he called to his friend. "R-Roman?"

He looked toward him, but almost wish he hadn't. Luis held up Virgil's cape, shaking as he scrunched his eyes closed. Thorn realized what had happened to the dark prince, a tiny gasp escaping her lips as she covered her mouth.

"Great, you found his cape, so where's he?" Roman questioned, not fully connecting the dots. "Maybe he fell somewhere around here-"

"Roman..." Thorn murmured, putting a hand on his shoulder. He looked towards her, dreading what she was going to say to him. "H-He's gone..."

Luis had begun to cry, clutching the cape to his chest tightly as the tears fell. The sentence didn't make sense to Roman. "T-That's not possible, he's not g-gone," he said, shaking his head in denial. He rushed over to the younger prince. "I bet this isn't e-even his c-cape..."

He took it from the crying prince, heart dropping as he looked at it, knowing it was. "No... n-no, that's not fair," he murmured, throat closing up. "After e-everything we did- after all I did for h-him- all he went through- he c-can't be gone!"

Roman's voice had escalated by the end of it, tears rolling down his cheeks. "N-No..." he whispered, hugging the cape as he fell to his knees. "T-That's not fair..."

Thorn hugged Luis tightly, who was clinging to her like he'd disappear if she let go of him. After a few moment of crying among them, the princess shakily spoke up. "We s-should go tell his f-father..." she said, wrapping an arm around Luis' shoulders to help him walk. Roman nodded weakly as he managed to get to his feet, feeling numb as they walked back.

The three of them looked like they'd walked through a hurricane when they returned to palace. King Patton and King Logan rushed forward to meet them, hugging their sons with smiles. "You're safe!" Patton gasped, pulling away from hugging Luis. "Where's your brother?"

No one spoke. It was then that they and the onlooking citizens and nobles noticed the tears on their faces and the dullness of their eyes. Logan realized first, mouth falling open slightly in horror. He put a hand on his companion's shoulder. "Patton..." he murmured. The king looked at him hopefully, but he was shaking his head.

"No..." he whispered. "No, no, no! No, please!"

King Logan pulled him close as he sobbed, wailing for his son, fighting back tears himself. "It's a l-long story," Roman told him when his father looked at him questioningly. "V-Virgil... he was f-forced to cast spell, but he s-stopped it at the c-cost of his life..."

The prince looked down as his hand, clenching it into a fist. "So the monster is gone?" an all too familiar voice spoke.

Something snapped within Roman, because upon hearing what the king said, he stalked across the courtyard and punched him across the face with enough force to knock him to the ground. There were gasps heard from all around at the action as the prince leaned down. He pulled him by the shirt to face him. "Because of you, he was tortured by his own mind. Because of you, he was pushed to the breaking point. Because of you, he died to save YOUR UNGRATEFUL AND UNDESERVING ASS," he seethed, seeing the fear in his gaze and relishing in it. The clothes he was holding him by were burning slightly from his fiery hand. His voice got deathly quiet as he continued. "Because of you, I never got to tell him I loved him..."

King Fuath was shaking as Roman glared at him, looking more terrified than he'd been when Virgil had thrown him across the room. The prince looked ready to kill on the spot. "So you best be getting the hell out of this kingdom," he told him, incredibly serious. "Because if I hear one more word out of your disgusting mouth, I'll burn it off."

He released him, not even watching him scramble away as he turned toward the palace. He swallowed with difficulty as he went inside and made his way to Virgil's room. Once he'd closed the door, the tears slowly started to fall. It felt wrong, being surrounded by the presence of him without him actually being there. It was like there was a void within this room, that he'd never be able to fill.

Roman didn't know if he would ever get used to the empty feeling in his chest.

End of book one.